Chapters 4-6

In chapters 4-6 of "Not On Our Watch" starts off with the history of this genocide. It gives you a more clearer understanding of why this is happening in Darfur, and that it is very complicated. I did not know many of the things which were said in the book, and now I understand what is happening over there and what is happening in Darfur better. At first, I was really confused. Why is the Janjaweed killing off innocent Darfurians? Why isn't anybody coming to help? Why is the government of Sudan letting this happen? The whole situation is very compicated and the country is suffering more than genocide. But of course genocide is the worst possible thing to happen, and that is what we should focus on. The country was split int regions, being mainly north and south darfur. When Sudan became an independant country in the 50s, the regions came together. Darfur was one. This caused killing, fighting, and the two did not go together for their great cultural difference. North Darfurians are mostly arabs and south Darfurians are traditional Africans. The two have been fighting each other for years. Now it has gotten to the point were a genocide is being comminted in the region against the traditional Africans, in South Darfur mostly. In the secons part of the chapters, Dan talks about more of his experiences in Darfur. So far, I think the book is very good and structured good as well. It switches off with information and history to each author's own stories and opinions.

Chapters 1-3 Class Discussion

On THursday we had our first in-class discussion on hte first three chapeters of "Not On Our Watch". At first, we talked about the authors' writing styles. The book provides both facts and statistics in Darfur as well as the authors' personal stories of how they got to be on htis project and their thoughts along the way. The class was split into two of how they thought about the writing style. One side says that theres no need for the "personal stories". Who cares about Don Cheadle giving out ipods? What does that have to do with Darfur and its atrocities? The other side said that those "personal stories" explain how the authors got to be in Darfur and what they experienced along the way. Plus, we need those accounts for the readers amusement as well, not may people would like to read 244 pages of plain statistics, right? Personaly, I think that we really do need those accounts, for many reasons. When you're reading this book, you really wonder how the authors got to be in Darfur and what made them become active. You read statistics and facts on Darfur on the internet all the time, so why do we need it in this book?
The second thing that we discussed was the actual text, not writing styes, although that didn't last long. I think that this book is amazingly written and I think that a reader who hasn't heard much about Darfur, or at all, will be drawn to this book if of course someone "forces" them to read it. It has a good balance of personalatiy, facts, and ways in which you can do to help. Well you read "Not On Our Watch" you really feel that you can make a difference. I felt that I needed to do something and stand up to take action. And this is exactly what this book was meant to do.

Not On Our Watch: Chapters 1-3

In class, we have been reading a book called "Not On Our Watch: The Mission To End Genocide In Darfur And Beyond" by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast. In our field trip to Los Angles on Thursday, April 26th we went to an event for Darfur, with guest speakers Don Cheadle and John Prendergast. They spoke about their experiences visiting Darfur, ways in which you can help stop the genocide, and about the book. The book starts off with facts about the genocide. Who is helping and who is not and what is happening in Darfur. It is basically facts and statistics. For me, I knew most of the facts in the book and was like I was reading an enclopedia. In the second chapter, however, Don and John speak about their own experiences and how they got to Darfur and to writing this book. I found it to be very interesting because it adds a sense of humanity into the book. If someone wants to know what Darfur is, they can read facts about it on the internet. This book is not only for facts and statistics, but also about people. The authors do a great job in engaging the reader. It shows that one person can make a difference. So far, I am enjoying this book and what it has to offer.